Summary

• Red Skull's new design gives the MCU villain his own Iron Man armor, designed by Ultron.
• The suit is strong enough to battle Captain America and Thor at the same time.
• However, it comes at a terrible price, as Red Skull's body is fused with the armor, including cables plunged into his eyes.

Warning: contains spoilers for Avengers: Twilight #5!While the MCU takes pains to stay family friendly, a character fans will know from Phase 1 just got a stomach-churning redesign younger fans shouldn't see. Currently, Marvel's Avengers: Twilight is telling the story of a world where Earth's Mightiest Heroes lost the public trust, leaving two iconic MCU villains to strike up a deadly alliance, combining their power in a dark transformation.

In Avengers: Twilight #5, the Red Skull enacts his plan to conquer America. After years undermining public trust in the Avengers and introducing draconian laws like the new Watcher Act, Captain America's nemesis is ready to fully take over, attacking the president in the White House. Having captured Ultron's consciousness, Red Skull has forced the Mad Android to build him a powerful Iron Man suit. However, it turns out that this new power level comes at a price.

As Red Skull - who has been hiding under the identity of Kyle Jarvis - confronts the president, he reveals that his new suit is physically connected to his body, with cables plunged into his eyes. For his final push, Johann Schmidt has surrendered his humanity in exchange for power that allows him to take on Thor himself.

Red Skull Undergoes an Inhuman Transformation

"I am the Soul of Red Skull! I am the Power of Ultron!"

Avengers: Twilight depicts a Marvel Universe decades in the future, where public for heroes has evaporated. The disastrous Hero Day - a Hulk attack masterminded by Ultron - killed several major heroes and instantly destroyed the Avengers' reputation, as they were seen battling one of their own with an immense death toll. In the years since, America has begun the slide into authoritarianism, and it turns out Red Skull was pulling the strings all along. Disguising himself as the brother of the Avengers' butler Edwin Jarvis, 'Kyle Jarvis' has raised Tony Stark's son James and set about creating a web of lies, rewriting his own history and even creating a fake team of Avengers to mollify the public.

Now, Captain America is fighting back, having assembled the last few heroes who will answer the call. As multiple characters have pointed out, the Red Skull effectively already won his play for America - he now tells the country what to think, what to , and what freedoms they are allowed to exercise. However, the monster's ego is his fatal flaw, and it's not enough to rule from the shadows - Red Skull wants the public to cheer as he crushes his enemies underneath his heel. To that end, he forced the captured Ultron to build him an unsured suit - one he can use to fight Captain America and Thor at once, while Tony Stark's brainwashed son enacts his grand plan.

Red Skull has a long, long history of sacrificing his humanity for power, from his extreme reaction to the Super Soldier serum in the MCU to becoming the monstrous Onslaught in the comic event AvX. Now, he's gone further than ever before, turning himself into a gory cyborg in order to harness the ultimate suit he forced Ultron to create. The Avengers are facing Red Skull at the most powerful and most inhuman he's ever been, but they'll only be able to win if they're willing to sacrifice as much for freedom as Schmidt has for control.

Avengers: Twilight #5 is available now from Marvel Comics.